Minister calls for village-based breast cancer awareness

Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain on Sunday urged doctors, particularly female physicians, to take breast cancer awareness campaigns to rural communities, saying seminars alone were insufficient to reach disadvantaged women.

“ If you spend at least three days a year in villages or talk to women wherever you are, I think you can make a significant contribution to breast cancer awareness,” he said.

The minister made the remarks at a discussion at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2026.

He said rural women often remained occupied with household chores and had limited access to health information, calling for coordinated efforts by the government, doctors and educated members of society to spread awareness at the grassroots.

Sakhawat also questioned whether poor women could afford treatment even if screening detected breast cancer, stressing that disadvantaged patients must receive proper medical care.

Expressing concern over cases among young women, he said he had spoken to several hundred women during a recent visit to his home district.

The minister said the government was working to extend breast cancer screening to the grassroots through health and well-being centres, but acknowledged that the initiative would take time to implement.

He said the plan required infrastructure development, recruitment of doctors and midwives, and training to ensure screening and awareness services reached rural women.

Director of the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery Prof Dr Md Nashir Uddin presided over the event.

PM’s Special Assistant on Health Affairs SM Ziauddin Hyder and Dhaka Medical College Hospital Director Brigadier General AKM Farhad Hossain, among others, also spoke.